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Chief Zacheus
Olowonubi Oloruntoba (O-láuren-tóba) was born in 1919 in Ogidi,
Nigeria
and began painting at 15 years old to explain the powerful,
lucid dreams he had had since age 12. In Yoruba tradition, as with many
cultures worldwide, dreams have particular significance as a means for
the dead to communicate with the living and advise them through their daily
lives.
Young Zacheus' dreams were so well-known, he became a spiritual mentor
and healer in his village. Chief Oloruntoba credits his mother with
teaching him how to use his magical gift of dreams and his
grandmother with showing him how to paint.
It was not until
1948 that Chief Oloruntoba began working with hand-dyed cords. He would
be unknown
as an artist for years to come, focusing instead on becoming an
herbal doctor and chief.
His art, though a very useful tool, was only one small part of his
healing practice.
Before he'd
reached his teens, young Zacheus had become known throughout Africa for
his
powerful,
lucid, and seemingly clairvoyant dreams. Many of those
dreams were recorded and published
by the University of California Press as King Marapaka's Dream.
The book presents an evocative tale of a young man's apprenticeship in
the healing arts and his
eventual mastery of magical powers. Today, Chief Oloruntoba
continues to work his magic in
paintings that sweep the viewer into a phantasmagoric
realm
of color, vitality, and mystery.
(My village) |
(Spirit of the Artist) |
(Hand of the Artist) |
Working with
traditional methods and materials, Chief Oloruntoba translates his
clairvoyant dreams
into what he calls "paintings for power and life and for the
protection
from sickness
and jealousy."
The exuberant images of elephants, lions, great
birds, Yoruba women,
tribal musicians,
and village huts have curative powers far beyond the
delight they
give the viewer.
Each contains a healing spirit who has arrived from
beyond to grapple with a
specific problem or concern--as represented by such titles as
Two Protection Birds and Good Luck and Harmony.
He
is also an internationally known herb doctor. After his Wichita, Kansas
exhibition in February
and March, 1999, he was invited by a professor of
Georgetown University Medical School
to lecture and conduct a workshop on herbs
and their healing power.
The Chief also uses the herbs to dye the fiber which he
spins.
He feels his art is curative to the viewer.
He
is first and foremost a spiritual leader of the Nigerian city of Ogidi, a city
of the Kogi State,
made up of 300,000 people primarily of the Yoruba tribe. He
is next in line to succeed his uncle as
King of Ogidi. (His uncle is 117 years
old.) Following tradition, he will no longer
create art when he is king.
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Here is a photograph of the
Chief with his mother.
She is now 126 years old (in 2005).
Abiola Oloruntoba, a daughter living and working in Atlanta,
is a mortgage broker,
divine mortgage corporation inc.
tel: 770-956-8609
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About
Nigeria
Situated on the West Coast
of Africa, and sharing borders with the countries of Benin, Niger, Chad
and
Cameroon, Nigeria has long provided the world with a rich and dynamic artistic heritage. Over 250 ethnic groups inhabit this nation of
110
million people, making it the most populated country in Africa.
The Hausa, Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba are the
four largest ethnicities that influence politics, industry and the
arts.
The Hausa and the Fulani live in the predominantly Islamic north and are frequently Muslim.
The Igbo to the southeast and the Yoruba to
the southwest
are mostly Christian. A small
percentage of Nigerians still practice
their indigenous
religions which predate the
arrival of Christianity and Islam.
Increasingly, ancient traditions are
under-going a cultural "renaissance," especially among the
Yoruba. Many Nigerians invoke their ancestral beliefs along
with or instead of Christian or Islamic
ones for births, marriages, funerals and
investiture ceremonies for chiefs and kings.
Scenes from Nigeria
A visit in 2001 by the American Ambassador to
Nigeria, with the King of Ogidi to the right and an
artist, Jimon Birahm to the left. Chief Oloruntoba
is at the far right and the palace chief in the back. |
Chief Oloruntoba performing a blessing
at local shrine for
the American Ambassador to Nigeria
during a visit to the city in 2001. |
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